Method of and apparatus for making threadkd bolts



R. PLUMB March 4, 1930.

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING THREADED BOLTS Filed Jan. 26, 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet l iIHH mm R i? IN V EN TOR. I fialfpfi Plum WNE arcfi 4, 1930. ,2

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING THREADED BOLTS Filed Jan. 26, 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 A'I'TORN f March 4,, 1930. R. PLUMB 1,749,086

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING THREADED BOLTS Filed mlze, 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR.

A am Pia/725 ATTORNEY Bzw g v March 4, 1930.

R. PLUMB 1,749,086 METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING THREADED BOLTS Filed Jan. 26, 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 IN V EN TOR.

- .41 Pill/7Z5 hlli, 11 0 A T TORNEY Patented Mar. 4, 1930 "UNITED STATES P E T OFFICE mm: name, or nor-ram, new man, AssIGNoR-mo BUFFALO norm comm, or

NORTH TONLWANDA, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION 01' NEW YORK nnrnon or AND nrrana'rvsron mine .rnnmnxn BOLTS Application fled January as, 1920. Serial m. 88,778.-

My present invention is shown as embodied n apparatus designed to make a great saymg 1n cost of labor and tosave one re-heat 1n hot-shaping and roll-threading of bolts made the standard types commonly employed for hot forging of bolt blanks, the novel feature of the method being immediate transfer of the blanks to automatic hot bolt feeding mechanism so" that by mechanism alone an I 16 without any delay, the hot bolt blanks are deposited, one at a time, between their rolling platens which roll the thread on the shank,

at one pass, and dropthe bolt into a tempering bath. 7 v

20 he novel part of the mechanism between the hot bolt blanking machine and the bath comprises a bolt train feed means, whereby the bolts are caused to hang by the heads, ,;sh ank down, between inclined guideways, the

latter being preferably rotar so as to avoid sticking and minimize friction of the bolt heads on said guides. Provision is made for freeing of the heads of the bolts over the funnel wherein they fall, shank down, and are guided into operative registry with the thread rolling pass. The bolt, with its lower end supported on a suitable stop, has its shank maintained upright by a guideway end of the funnel, the latter having automatically yieldable sections whereb the bolt may be bodily and forcibly carrled laterally on a vertical axis between the automatically opening. sections of the guide, the latter closing automatically when clear of the bolt.

As it is sometimes possible for a bolt to stick in the rolling platens, being thereby carried back to the funnel, the latter is prevented from damage by any suchbolt by pivotally supporting the same from its upper end, so .that it can swivelrearwardly when engaged by such a bolt. Preferably, a single weight arm isrutilized to non-positively return both themovable guide sections, and the pivoted funnel as a whole, to normal position.

1 The above and other features of my ap- "veyor from the hot bolt-b .being shown in section;

platens showing the relation to a. bolt in the 2). In this position, the bolts that-may be aratus may be better understood from the ollowing description in connection with the accompanying'drawings, in which Fig 1 is a side elevation of the mechanism for sorting and feeding the hot bolts, one by one, to the screw forming platens, the conanking machine Fig. 2 is a top plan view, the hot bolt con veyor and the hopper sides being removed; Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3, Fig. 1, viewing endwise the sorting rolls and the hopper for retaining the hot bolts in operative relation to the guide-way opening betweenthe rolls;

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4, Fig. 2, showing the escapement mechanism for one by one release of the bolts in the guideway Fig. 5 is a view of the mechanism from 'the lower end thereof;

Fig. 6 iQ- a vertical section on the line 6- -6, Fig. 1, showing the relation of the bolt supplying roller guide-way, the funnel, and the thread-rolling platens;

Fig. 7 is a vertical sectionjthrough the funnel on the line 77;

Fig. 8 is a horizontal section through 'the funnel on the line 8-8, Fig. 7; and

Fig 9 is a plan view of the thread-rolling unnel and to a tempering bath into which the. completed bolts fall;

As indicated by the le end on Fig. 1, the hot bolt blanks from the iolt header are immediately conveyed through trough 1, whence they are deflected through openin 2, and down between hopper walls, 5, 6 Fig. 3), whereby they are retained above the slotlike pass, 7, between the rolls 8 and 9 (Fig.

bunched are'beaten' back bv toothed roller,

10,' supported in a bracket, 11, and continuously driven counter-clock-wise through pulley, 12. The bracket, 11, is secured to the main frame,'13, which supports the conveyor, 1. The main frame also supports the bracket, 15, at the upper end, and a similar bracket, 16, at the lower end, in which roller guide 9 is rotatably mounted. The other roller guide,

8, is mounted in the upper and lower bracket arms, 15, 16", which are pivotally and adj ustably secured to the brackets, 15 and 16, respectively.

The rolls preferably rotate from each other, power for driving them being applied at the upper end, through a suitably driven shaft 20, bevel gears, 21, 22 and shaft, 23. Gear 24, on the shaft 23, drives directly through gear 25 011 roll 9 and through lntermediate gear 26 on a stud coaxial with the pivot of the bracket arm, 15, it drives gear 27 on roll 8. The width of the guide slot, 7, between the rolls is adjusted by means of bolts 30 and 31, engaging ears, 32, 33, on the'upper and lower brackets, 15, 16, respectively. These bolts extend through the main frame, 13, and are clamped on opposite sides thereof by nuts, 34. Their free ends are clamped on oppositesides of ears 32, 33, by nuts 35. The roller guides are adjusted so that the slot 7 between them is of the proper diameter to permit the shanks of the bolts to fall down between them so that the bolts hang by their heads as indicated in Fig. 4. The general alignment of the bolts with the slot is pre-.

served by means of the'hopper sides, 5, 6,

' shown in'Fig- 3 andthe tooth wheel, 10, op-

crates as a kicker engaging any bolt that falls on top of another, but the clearance below 10 is sufficient to permit passage of all "bolts hanging properly by their heads, so it is only necessary tokeep up the supply of hot bolts in order to preserve a train of the bolts 00 in a' position shown in Fig. 4. The

' inclination of the rolls and their rotation opcrates to maintain the bolts pressing one against another and their further progress to the threading dies is controlled by separating and release mechanism.

As shown inFigs. 2 and 4, there is an c capement comprising an upper fin er, 40, and

- 45,mounted in bracket, 46, on the rear of frame 13. The slides have pivots, 47 ,48, en-

circled by links, 49, 50, rocking on pivots,

71, 71, engaging overlapping, alternating stop operation of ing to withdraw the guide support for the heads ofthe bolts. As shown in Fig. 2, and

more in detail in Fig. 7, the rolls, 8, 9, have reduced extensions, 8*, 9, having sleeves, 8", 9 of the same diameter as the rolls, slidably secured to but rotating with said rolls through the medium of'a spline 9 (Fig. 7). The

sleeves, 8", 9", are rotatably mounted in bearings, 8, 9, in a yoke, 70, having trunnions,

earings, 72, 72, in the ends of arms, 73, 7 3, which are keyed to shaft 74, said shaft being supported rotatably in a hearing, 75, secured to the frame 13 by bracket 7 6. Shaft 74 has also keyed thereto an arm,

77, which is oscillated by arm, 78 (Fig. 2),'

which is loosely mounted on shaft 74, the relation of parts being such that arm, 77 is positively retracted by 78, but the coupling is non-positive for the restoring movement, being through the medium of. a compression spring, 79, on bolt, 80, retained by nut, 81, at the outer end, extending through 78 and retained at'the other end by nut, 82. This arm carries an anti-friction roller, 83, engaging the cam slot, 84, formed intermediate the adjacent surfaces of rotors, 85 and 86, mounted upon and driven by the same shaft, 62, that rotates the escapement cams first above described. The phase relation of the cam slot,

84, to the escapement cams, 60, 61,. is such that the retracting of yoke, 70, and with it the guide sleeves, 8", 9", occurs exactly at the time a bolt is released by the lower finger,-41.-

Being thus released, the bolt falls, shank first, into the funnel, 90. I

The funnel, 90, is pivotally mounted (see Fig. 6) on a lateral stud, 91, to whichit is rigidly secured as by pin, 92. This stud is journaled in a sleeve, 93, extending through the main frame, 13, the sleeve being secured by lock nut, 94, and the stud being prevented.

from endwise removal byj'am nuts. 95.

As shown in Figs. 6 and 7, the funnel has a rear slot, 96 extending downward a ,dis-

tance sufiicient to admit the longest bolt for which the machine is designed, and it is formed-at the lower end with a converging portion, the rear half, 97, being integral with the funnel,but the forward portion compris- 7 ing vertical sections, 98, 99, mounted on vertlcal pivots 100, 101 (see Fig. 8), on the rear of integral funnel section 97. The sections,

98, 99, are yieldingly held in the closed position by a bell crank lever, comprising depending] ar'ms, 102,103, bearing on cam pro jections, 104, 105.- The otherearm, .106, of

shown in Fig. 8, t e hinge sections, 98, 99,

f. have their forward adjacent edges formed with the lower portions 98, 99*, adapted to form yielding lateral guides for the shank of the bolt while higher up the opening is wider to erform a similar function for the head of t e bolt. r

' The bolts falling into the funnel are guided to the pass between thread-rolling dies of any known or desired type, a stationary member, 110 and a reciprocating member, 1 1l,'bein shown in Figs. 6 and 9. The shank end of t e bolt projecting through the funnel falls on the stop, 113, on the upper edge of which it rests until the slide, 111,

is in its rearward position and the threadrolling pass is thus opened for reception of the bolt. In this position, the stop, 113, be.- ing retracted, the bolt falls endwise, onto gauge stop, 114, which is supported from the stationary die, at the proper depth in the pass, the bolt being guided during its fall by the lower portion of the funnel guide. Then upon forward movement of slide 111, the

bolt is nipped and rolled in upright posi tion between the thread surfaces of stationary and movable die. As it rolls forward,

its upper end forces its way out of the funnel through the lateral guide sections, 98, 99, which yieldingly open, .applying pressure against the bell crank arms, 100, 101, thereby lifting weight 107.

At the end of the pass, the thread has been rolled in the bolt and the rear end of die 111 being then clear of the forward end of the stationary die 110, the bolt falls free, as indicated in dotted, lines at m, Fig. 9. It falls into a tempering bath, while still at the high luminous heat required for tempering, this being the original heat which was given before entering the blank-forming header which supplies the conveyor 1.

If for any reason the bolt sticks to the movable die and is rolled back therewith so that it strikes the funnel guide, the latter can pivot about 91 and will. be by gravity returned to its position against stop 109 by the weight, 107, which thus serves as yielding support not only for yieldably closing the vertically pivoted guide sections, 98, 99, but also for yieldingly restoring the horizontally pivoted funnel, 96.

The bolt entraining guides, 5, 6, together with the converging sides of adjacent rollers, 8, 9, form a slot-bottomed hopper of consid- 6-5 arable storage capacity, and in the preferred of bolts to the rolling dles even though there be considerable irregularity or bunching of the bolts as they come through the conveyor '1, from the hot bolt machine or other source ofsupply.

In t e preferred operation, however, it is desirable to maintain the supply of bolts through the conveyor 1, quite uniform, and to operate the thread-rolling mechanism at a speed sufficient to take care of the supply so that the entrained bolts on the guiderollers, 8, 9, will not accumulate and remain for a time long enough to permit cooling thereof below the tempering'heat.

It is obvious that the bolt entraining and feeding mechanism may be used for cold bolt blanks or even for completely formed and threaded bolts which it is desired to present in orderly manner and at controllable rate to mechanisms other than threading dies.

Similarly, the mechanism may be used for other headed articles having heads substantially larger than the shanks.

I claim:

1. A bolt-threading machine, comprising relatively reciprocating threading platens between which the bolt blank is rolled, in combination with automatic mechanism for entraining the bolt blanks and guiding them to operative position in the pass between said platens, said mechanism including parallel inclined rolls spaced apart to hold the heads while permitting passage of the shanks of the bolt blanks.

2. A bolt-threading machine, comprising relatively reciprocating threading platens between which the bolt blank is rolled, in combination with automatic mechanism for entraining the bolt blanks and guiding them to operative position in the pass between said platens, said mechanism including parallel inclined rolls spaced apart to hold the heads while permitting passage of the shanks of the bolt blanks and escapement mechanism for one by one release of the bolts traveling down said inclined rolls and for then releasing the heads of said bolts.

3. A" bolt-threading machine, comprising relatively reciprocating threading platens between which the bolt blank is rolled, in combination with automatic mechanism for bination with automatic hot bolt supplying means and guide means having its outlet presenting the bolts vertically, shank downward,

at the entrance of the pass between the platentraining the bolt blanks and guiding them ens and means for controllingthe length of bolt shank engaging the threading platens.

5. A bolt-threading machine, comprising co-operative, stationary and reciprocating, threading platens adapted to receive and roll the bolt blank with its axis vertical, in combination with guide means having its outlet presenting the bolts vertically, shank downward, at the entrance of the pass between the platens, said guide means having its forward walls yieldably closed to permit automatic opening thereof by the bolt blank when rolled between the dies;

6. A bolt-threading machine, comprising co-operative, stationary and reciprocating, threading platens adapted to receive and roll thebolt blank with its axis vertical, in com-' bination with guide means having its outlet presenting the bolts vertically, shank downward, at the entrance of the pass between the platens, said guide means having its forward walls yieldably closed'to permit autopresenting the bolts vertically, shank down-' ward, at the entrance of the pass between the platens, the forward lower wall of said guide means being formed by vertically pivoted sections adapted to open in the plane of the pass, and means for holding them yieldably closed, comprising a bell crank supported on a horizontal pivot and having one arm extending rearwardly with a Weight thereon and other arms engaging said pivotally mounted sec- I tions 8. A bolt-threading machine, comprising co-operative, stationary and reciprocating, threading platens adapted to receive and roll the bolt blank with its axis vertical, incombination with guide means having its outlet presenting the bolts vertically, shank down! ward, at the entrance of the pass between the platens, the forward lower wall of said guide means being formed by vertically pivoted sections adapted to open in the plane of the pass, and means for holding them yieldably closed, comprising a bell crank supported on a horizontal pivot and having one arm extending 'rearwardly with a weight thereon and other arms engaging said pivotally mounted sections, and said guide, as a whole being pivoted on a horizontal axis topermit rearward swinging of the lower end thereof when engaged by a returning bolt caught in the movable platen.

9. A bolt-threading machine, comprising cooperative, stationary and reciprocating,

threading platens adapted to receive and roll the bolt blank with its axis vertical, in combination with guide means having its outlet presenting the bolts vertically, shank down- 'ward, at the entrance of the pass between the platens, said guide'me'ans being pivoted on a horizontal axis topermit rearward swinging of the lower end thereof when engaged by a returning bolt caught in the movable platen.

10. Apparatus for bolts or thelike, includ- I ing a slot-bottomed hopper the bottom of which is formed by parallel rolls spaced apart to pass the shanks while retaining the heads of the bolts, and means for rotat ing said rolls.

11. Apparatus for bolts or thelike, including a slot-bottomed hopper the bottom of which is formed by parallel rolls spaced apart, to pass the shanks while retaining the heads ofthe bolts, and means for rotating said rolls in opposite directions.

12. Apparatus for bolts or the like, including a slot-bottomed hopper the bottom. of-

which is formed by parallel rolls'spaced apart to pass the shanks while retaining the heads of the bolts, and means for rotating said rolls in opposite directions, with their adjacent bolt-engaging surfaces rotating upwardly and away from each other.

13. Apparatus for bolts or the like, including a slot-bottomed hopper the bottom of which is formed by parallel rolls spacedapart to pass the shanks while retaining the heads of the bolts, and means. for rotating said rolls in opposite directions, with their'adjacent bolt-engaging surfaces rotating upwarding their axes inclined so that bolts properly entrained in the slots slide downward.

14. Apparatus for bolts or the like, including a slot-bottomed hopper the bottom of which is formed by parallel rolls spaced apartto passthe shanks while retaining the heads of the bolts, and meansfor rotating said rolls in opposite directions, with their in opposite directions, with their adjacent bolt-engaging surfaces rotating upwardly and away from each other, said rollers hav- .ly and away from each other, said rollers having their axes inclined so that boltsuproperly entrained in the slots slide downward, in.

combination-with a rotary kicker turning upance sufficient to permit passage of the heads of properly entrained bolts and, below the hopper, bolt-separating escapement mechamsm for passing the bolts, one at a time, while holding back bolts in train behind the escapement.

ing a slot-bottomed hopper the bottom of which is formed by parallel rolls spaced apart to pass the shanks while retaining the heads of the bolts, and means for rotating said rolls in opposite directions, with their adjacent bolt-engaging surfaces rotating upwardly and away from each other, said rollers having their axes inclined so that bolts properly entrained in the slots slide downward and, below the hopper, bolt-separating escapement mechanism for passing the bolts, one at a time, while holding back bolts in train behind the escapement.

17. Apparatus for bolts or the like, including a slot-bottomed hopper the bottom of which is formed by parallel rolls spaced apart to pass the shanks while retaining the heads of the bolts, and means for rotating said rolls in opposite directions, with their adjacent bolt-engaging surfaces rotating upwardly I and away from each other, said rollers having their axes inclined so that bolts properly entrained in the slots slide downward and, below the hopper, bolt-separating escapement mechanism for passing the bolts, one at a time,while holding back bolts in train behind the escapement, said rolls being formed with sections slidable endwise to permit dropping of the bolt heads therethrough.

18. Apparatus for bolts or the like, includ ing a slot-bottomed hopper the bottom of which is formed by parallel rolls spaced apart to pass the shanks while retaining the heads of the bolts, and means for rotating said rolls in opposite directions, with their adjacent bolt-engaging surfaces rotating upwardly and awayfrom each other, said rollers having their axes inclined so that bolts properlyentrained in the slots slide downward, said rolls being formed with sections slidable endwise to permit dropping of the bolt heads therethrough. I

19. Apparatus for bolts or the like, including a; slot-bottomed hopper the bottom of which is formed by parallel rolls spaced apart to pass the shanks while retaining the heads of the bolts, and means for rotating said rolls in opposite directions, with their adjacent bolt-engaging surfaces rotating upwardly and away from each other, said rollers having of the bolt heads therethrough, together with mechanism for operating the latter and said escapement in synchronous relation, a funnel guide into which said bolts fall, shank downward and mechanism in operative relation for receiving the bolts from the lower end of the funnel.

20. Apparatus for bolts or the like, including a slot-bottomed hopper the bottom of which is formed by parallel rolls spaced apart to pass the shanks while retaining the heads of the bolts, and means for rotating said rolls in opposite directions, with their adj a- .cent bolt-engaging surfaces rotating upwardly and away from each other, said rollers having their axes inclined so that bolts properly entrained in the slots slide downward, said rolls being formed with sections slidable endwise to permit dropping of the bolt heads therethrou'gh, together with mechanism for operating the latter and said escapement in synchronous relation, a funnel guide into which said bolts fall, shank downward and. mechanism in operative relation for receiving the bolts from the lower end of the funnel.

21. The method of making bolts, which in eludes heating a bar or rod white hot throughout, feeding it directly to a high speed automatic bolt-blanking machine to produce a succession of white hot bolt blanks, entraining the blanks, shank downward, dropping them to the entrance of the pass between reciprocating threading dies, while maintaining, an approximate vertical position of the blanks, dropping the blanks further, the required distance into the pass when the movable threading die is at the beginning of its forward stroke, utilizing the forward movement of said die to simultaneously form the thread and roll the bolt to the exit of the pass between the diesand, while still at high luminous temperature, receiving the discharged blank in a tempering bath.

Si ned at North Tonawanda in the county of Niagara and State of New York, this 19th day of January, A. D. 1926.

RALPH PLUMB.

their axes inclined so that bolts properly entrained in the slots slide downward and, be-

low the hop er, bolt-separating escapement mechanism or passing the bolts, one at a time, while holding back bolts in train behind the escapement, said rolls being formed with sections slidable endwise to permit dropping 

